LinkedIn

Success StoriesLinkedIn is all about helping people succeed in their careers. When you use the word "success," though, most of us tend to think of long-term, far-reaching goals. We created this series of mini-documentaries—along with a robust landing page and social media campaign—to remind viewers that success comes in all shapes and sizes. And, naturally, that LinkedIn is a great resource no matter what path you take.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Synchronized SardinesTo promote one of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s most spectacular attractions—a baitfish phenomenon called a “bait ball”—we created one of the largest touchscreen experiences ever and brought it to Bay Area events. People could use their fingers to zig, zag, swerve, and spiral a huge school of sardines moving in perfect unison. Then they could select a specific shape and music track, and watch the sardines put on a synchronized swimming performance that would make Esther Williams jealous.

University of California San Francisco

A Brilliant ConvergenceWe created a campaign aimed at engaging both UCSF’s internal and external audiences. Internally, our goal was to create a sense of community and unity among UCSF’s staff, who are spread across the institution’s many campuses. In addition to on-campus installations and shuttle wraps, we created digital and experiential pieces designed to educate employees on the organization’s mission and many achievements. Externally, our work reminded the public that UCSF is one of the world’s finest healthcare organizations.

The RealReal

Real Luxury. Unreal Value.The RealReal touts itself as “the world’s finest seller of authenticated luxury consignment items.” In other words, you give them any high-end clothing and accessories that you’ve grown tired of, and they sell it and give you a big percentage of the earnings. Sounds simple enough, but The RealReal is actually a very sophisticated operation that goes to extremes to make sure the items sold on their site are totally authentic, in great condition, and from only the best designers. Since we did the company’s very first brand ads touting The RealReal as high-style, yet highly affordable, their business has exploded. Recently, we had the opportunity to create their very first TV spot.

Mozilla Firefox

Empowerment to the PeopleWe were hired to help Mozilla Firefox redefine its brand and communication strategy as the browser category became fiercely competitive. At the time, most people didn’t realize that Firefox was the only browser created and managed by a non-profit organization for the cause of keeping the internet open, accessible, and free. We created a brand book, videos, and online and out-of-home executions to introduce this concept both within the company and to users worldwide.

SFMOMA

Reopening CampaignIn promoting the reopening of the newly remodeled SFMOMA, our goal was to attract a younger Millennial audience that has an appreciation for art, but doesn’t view a stuffy, sterile museum environment as the place to go see it. Our campaign was intended to portray the new SFMOMA as a warmer, more engaging, more thought-provoking experience, with an expansive collection that offered something for everyone.

San Francisco 49ers

Forever FaithfulIn 2011, we faced an enormous challenge in promoting 49ers ticket sales: an NFL lockout had not only demoralized fans, but disallowed the use of players in team advertising. So we flipped the script, making the fans the stars of the advertising campaign by positioning their loyalty and passion as key to a winning season.

The centerpiece of the campaign was a microsite on which fans could create and customize NFL-style football cards featuring themselves, then share their cards via social media. Fans were also featured in TV, radio, OOH, online marketing, and even on game tickets.

HayTag

Find the Things You LoveHayTag is a new technology that lets you track a small tag with your smartphone. There are plenty of Bluetooth devices out there already, but they have a tiny range that’s only good for finding your keys when they’re under the couch. HayTag, by contrast, has a range of up to a mile, so it’s a great way to track down a lost dog or anything else you love. We created a video, point-of-sale materials, packaging, and a website to launch the product.

Bridge Bank

Bridging a Communication GapWe led an extensive brand redevelopment for one of the West Coast’s most innovative business banks, whose previous marketing efforts fell short of communicating the bank’s bold, entrepreneurial approach. From a new communications platform, to a new identity, to a new website, we gave Bridge Bank a voice and a look that are as smart as the bankers themselves.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Come Aboard, Swim AlongWhat do you get when you combine an Airstream trailer, six HD TVs, and a vampire squid? The World’s First Land Submarine. This experiential effort for the Monterey Bay Aquarium brought people 9,000 feet below the ocean’s surface and introduced them to over 25 animals. The family-friendly experience was designed to be as cool as it was quirky.

ABC7 News

The Story’s on 7San Francisco is a different media market. It’s smarter. It’s more skeptical. Promoting local news requires a campaign that reflects the community’s sensibilities. News industry formulas, in other words, just don’t fly. For ABC7, we created a simple, inexpensive campaign that tells stories in an unexpected way.

LinkedIn

Picture YourselfBrands are built on emotional connections. LinkedIn gets high marks for its utility, but hasn’t yet clearly communicated its raison d'être. This initiative was the first wave of brand work to come out of our long-term strategic development partnership. The centerpiece of the effort was this documentary video that juxtaposed young kids’ career aspirations with working professionals who’ve succeeded in those same fields.

Mozilla Firefox

Firefox for AndroidAs mobile browsing continued to grow, Firefox needed to communicate that desktop users could now expect the same great experience on their Android device. And of course, that using Firefox for Android helped support the values that Mozilla and Firefox stand for. Namely, an open web. We told the story—in 14 languages—with this animated video.

Razoo

The Joy of GivingOnline philanthropy is a tough category in which to differentiate your offering. Razoo asked for our help with research, strategy, and design in redefining their brand. We found that most philanthropic organizations tried to guilt people into giving. We proposed that Razoo come at philanthropy from a donor-centric point of view—the idea that giving on a regular basis is highly fulfilling, and central to living a joyful life. That insight informed all of our design and copy development, from visual identity, to style guide, to an anthemic poster.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Summerge YourselfWhat better way to attract visitors to the world’s coolest aquarium than by offering them a little peek inside? Our campaigns for the Monterey Bay Aquarium have centered on creating experiences that are, well, immersive. Over the years, we’ve created work in a wide range of media—TV, radio, out-of-home, online, mobile, social, and experiential—all to promote the magic of our oceans and their creatures.

Piper

Stuff Happens. See It.Piper is part of the revolution in home security: sophisticated monitoring systems that are also reasonably priced and easy to manage. Manufactured by Icontrol—a company with deep security software expertise, but no brand recognition—it was imperative that we highlight the differentiating features that make Piper a better choice, and do it in a way that made the brand likeable. Our goal wasn’t only to grow consumer interest, but to gain shelf space in big-box retailers. This series of videos and digital efforts provided some offbeat, memorable demonstrations of Piper’s technology. It wasn’t long before Piper was being sold through Best Buy, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart.

Toyota Hawaii

Put Your Pedal to the ProtonMembers of our team have had a lot of car experience in their collective pasts, including work for Acura, Isuzu, Porsche, and Saturn. So we were delighted and honored when awarded the task of introducing Toyota’s first-ever hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, the Mirai, to the state of Hawaii.

LinkedIn

Student SeriesOver 30 million college students have signed up for LinkedIn, but have no idea what to do next. Facing major life changes like handling debt, moving into their parents’ basements, and finding jobs, they need some solid advice. These videos give students a little reassurance and a lot of instruction. Translated into four languages, these videos have been viewed over five million times.

Dignity Health / Catholic Healthcare West

New Name, New Voice, New BrandFor three years, we worked with Catholic Healthcare West on campaigns expressing their support for universal healthcare, a cause very much in line with their deep Catholic roots. However, in 2011, the changing healthcare landscape, combined with the Roman Catholic Church’s increasingly stringent doctrine, led CHW to make the difficult decision to change its name. In hiring us over the prestigious branding firms for the sensitive task of renaming and repositioning the organization as more inclusive and forward-thinking, they cited the simplicity, clarity, and humanity of the past work we’d created for them, pointing out that we not only understood their business better than anyone, but their heart and soul. Today, Dignity Health is the country’s fifth largest hospital system.

TiVo

You’ve got a life. TiVo gets it. When we first started working with TiVo, they were struggling to get beyond a million users. People who owned TiVos loved them, but prospects who’d never experienced TiVo’s benefits were turned off by the idea that they needed “improved television,” as the marketing promised. We found that these prospects would never admit to being “TV lovers,” preferring instead to define themselves by their other interests, like sports, cooking, travel, etc. With that in mind, we positioned TiVo not as a means to better television, but as a powerful way to connect people to their passions. This series of “testimonials” appeared in vertical publications where the ads could speak to readers’ specific interests. TiVo’s sales skyrocketed, and soon surpassed their goal of three million subscribers.

Melon

A Product DemonstrationThis is the video component of a pro bono effort. If we say more, we’ll spoil the experience.

Mozilla Firefox

The Power of CuteWhile in the midst of rebranding Firefox, the company needed to release a new version of the browser. To encourage downloads, we created a microsite that spoke to the brand's new do-gooder positioning—and created something of a social media sensation. The effort helped compel 15.85 million downloads in 48 hours (5,503 per minute, 9.7 per second). The 24-hour total tripled that of Internet Explorer’s update, released at the same time.

Blackstone

Not the Same Old Wine WorkBlackstone is a California winery that had been scooped up by Constellation Brands, a huge, international producer/marketer of wine, beer, and spirits. Keeping in mind that consumers tend to gravitate toward smaller wine labels, we crafted the Blackstone campaign to feel intimate and homespun, celebrating life's simple moments. We recommended keeping the media buy small, too. Yet with a relatively modest presence in print and online, we managed a 35% volume increase in year one, followed by two more years of double-digit growth. By then, Blackstone had become America’s number one selling Merlot. And, in a Bon Appétit reader survey, our work scored the highest recall of any ad in the publication. Ever.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Dive While You WaitImagine if your bus shelter suddenly transformed into a submarine that could take you 150 feet below the surface, and you were in control of the whole experience; you’d want to share that online, right? Yeah, you and 46,000 others.

EVault

The Best Case for the Worst CaseDoes B-to-B have to be dull and dry? With our campaign for EVault, we take the fairly mundane proposition of data backup and recovery and leverage every IT manager’s deepest fear: that some unpredictable force is lurking around the corner waiting to wreak havoc on their data. And, we’ve summed it up in print ads, online display, and videos with a simple line: The best case for the worst case.

Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula

Beautiful ResultsCommunity Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula has long had a reputation as one of the nation’s nicest, most beautiful medical facilities. Our job was to remind people that it was also among the best. Given the hospital’s very small marketing budget, we had to find less conventional, less hospital-like ways to spread that message, yet still build credibility.